


Just a Phase

by ZoeWiloh



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gotta torture the chocobros, Hurt Noctis Lucis Caelum, Hurt/Comfort, I mean isn't that why we're here, Insecurity, Just your average day of whump, No Beta, Questionable medical info, Serious Injuries, Sneaky Noct, Worry, very minor swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 12:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeWiloh/pseuds/ZoeWiloh
Summary: During a battle, Noctis breaks his neck. From there he somehow manages to make things much, much worse when he disappears from their tent in the night.





	Just a Phase

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, I had this picture in my head of something I thought was funny and so I did what any normal person does and write a 10k+ word story around it. I've been working on this on and off for like a month and finally came up with an ending I liked today. The perfectionist in me wants to wait until I can proof this to death but I just really want to get it out there. Forgive me for the dumb name based off a very small part of the story. I couldn't come up with anything good on that front lol
> 
> This is my first fanfic in this fandom and I technically haven't finished the game yet...but these bros won't get out of my head, so here we are. If there's anything I messed up in a big way and can't claim poetic license for please tell me.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Noctis groaned after the Regalia slowed to a stop and puttered out, Ignis barely able to get it to the side of the road in time. “Not again.”

It was beginning to get dark and their rush to get to a haven was interrupted at the worst possible time. The last time any of them had any sleep or food was almost 36 hours ago. Prompto and Noct had been pretty open about how much this was getting to them, but it was even getting to the more reserved Advisor and Shield. Their chance of making it to a haven before nightfall was going up in smoke. 

Gladio growled in a low, lethal tone, “Prompto, weren’t you supposed to refuel?”

“I did!” he cried indignantly. After a long pause he added, “...I think…”

Noctis leaned forward, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. Voice muffled by his hands, he repeated, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Ignis chose then to speak in Prompto’s defense. “The gauge indicates at least two thirds of a tank of fuel. We should inform Cindy and request a tow back to Hammerhead.”

“I’ll make the call,” Gladio offered, dialing the number immediately right from the car. The other three could recognize Cindy’s sunny accent and chipper attitude coming from the phone but couldn’t actually make out any of the words. Gladio informed her of the situation and soured at her response. It was clear he was having difficulty controlling his reaction when he finally replied, “It’s not great. You sure? … No, we’ll survive,” he finished grimly as he hung up. “They can’t get to us tonight. Their usual driver is sick and the new guy won’t drive in the dark.” In frustration, he threw the phone down on the seat next to him with a huff. 

After a minute of silence, Prompto nervously asked, “So…what now?” 

“We pack up and haul ass to a haven,” Gladio answered. Prompto let out an audible gulp; it clearly wasn’t the answer he was hoping for. 

Without much chatter, they got out of the car and began to head to a haven. Thankfully, they still had their chocobos to speed up the trip. The situation was far from ideal, but for a while it went uneventfully. Until two giant red figures with swords rose from the ground.

“Fight or flight, guys?” Noctis called out to them. 

The red giants answered for them when one of them swung its sword at the party before they had the chance to decide or dismount.

They quickly scrambled off their chocobos. Ever loyal and equally feisty, Noctis’ chocobo, Maggie, tried to get in one kick against the enemy before dashing off. “Run, Maggie!” he had to shout at her before she fled after the others to safety.

Once the chocobos were clear of the scene, the real battle began. As usual, Noctis was the first to leap into action, warping his way into the enemies’ personal space. He had just picked up a new sword that was supposed to be especially effective against daemons and he was eager to try it out, slashing it into the chest of the monster. 

He barely managed to avoid the daemon’s counterattack, leaping back out of reach. He stabbed at the daemon again, letting himself fall into an easy rhythm. Warp in, attack, dodge, heal if necessary, assess, repeat. He knew it wasn’t the time to become complacent, but it wasn’t the time for heroics either. The entire party was exhausted and hanging on by a thread; it was hardly the time to try something different in case it didn’t go as planned. Relying on instinct was all they had. 

The battle stretched on much longer than they expected, which he supposed should have been more expected. Noctis realized with a sinking feeling that their weariness was holding them back more than he had accounted for.

Gradually, he began using more aggressive strategies against the pair of foes. He made a point of teaming up with the others to focus their attacks in hopes of landing a crushing blow that could turn the battle in their favor sooner rather than later. They were barely managing to keep their heads above water and much more of this would likely prove to be too much. Ignis had already had to call the party to regroup countless times and while it was necessary, it kept them from executing bigger moves, thus drawing out the length of the fight. They had all had to rescue each other more than once and it became clearer as time went on that the struggle was only getting worse. 

After what felt like an eternity all on its own, they managed to fell one of the giants. For a moment, Noctis felt a flash of optimism overshadowing the tiredness he felt straight down into his bones. If they had managed to kill one of them in this state, surely they could handle the remaining one. 

Walking away from a battle with one of these particular daemons was never a guarantee, and fighting two of them tended to hit their potion supply especially hard. Tonight was no exception. When they were approaching the end of the fight, Noctis could tell he was on the brink. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel, but his vision was only growing darker around the edges. He reached to grab an elixir and came away empty handed. Not good. 

_ “Noct!” _ Ignis shouted in warning, pulling his attention back to the fight. It couldn’t have been more than a second he was distracted, but it was enough. The daemon was reaching toward him and he had to warp away suddenly to avoid the hit. 

Unfortunately, that warp sent him into stasis. It was a miserable state to be in at any time, but he knew it could prove disastrous tonight. With a start, he realized he had fallen to his knees at some point. He tried getting up and stumbled, falling back down into the dirt. He jumped again when he felt a hand grabbing at him before realizing it was Gladio yanking him up to his feet. 

“C’mon, no time,” Gladio barked as they joined together in an attack. Noct could tell it wasn’t as effective as it would normally be and felt a pang of guilt that he wasn’t keeping himself together enough to fight for not only his own life but the lives of his only friends in the world. 

The giant was on its last legs and Noctis knew Gladio was right, now wasn’t the time. He couldn’t fall apart now, so he pressed harder, doing his best to fight through the stasis that was clawing him down more than any daemon or exhaustion ever could. 

In a last, desperate swing, the daemon swung its sword at the party and the end of it managed to hit Noctis in the gut and send him flying. He’s not sure how far he flew, all he’s aware of is a weightless feeling that ended very abruptly. He felt himself smash head first into something rocky and it pushed his neck to an odd angle in the landing.  _ At least the daemon didn’t slash him in two _ , he thought halfheartedly. It wasn’t much consolation.

All he felt capable of is lying there. He’s vaguely conscious that his eyelids were fluttering and it should be changing his vision but everything is equally dark and shadowed whether his eyes are open or not. If he had been less impaired, it may have scared him that he hadn’t been able to move an inch since he landed, but as it was, he barely registered anything. He couldn’t see and though he could hear at times, he wasn’t able to understand anything happening. He tried to take stock of his injuries but he couldn’t think clearly enough to even tell how he felt. It should have been alarming but even panic was beyond him in this state.

The last thing he’s truly aware of is his friends gathering around him. He feels Ignis pull one of his eyelids open, but he wasn’t sure why, so he tried to push him away but couldn’t quite manage. And then everything was dark and he felt everything finally slipping away. 

 

\--

 

Everything seemed to stop when the daemon’s sword connected with Noctis’ stomach. In case that wasn’t bad enough, he was then lifted and thrown farther than Ignis cared to think about. 

When the battle concluded shortly afterwards, he rushed to his prince’s side along with Prompto and Gladio on his heels. Noctis hadn’t moved an inch from where he fell, flat on his back except for his neck which was bent up unnaturally on one of the rocks he landed on. Ignis felt physically sick when he realized they had but a single potion left to treat what was likely far too much damage.

Noctis’ eyelids were fluttering, never opening more than halfway. Ignis gently pulled one of his eyes open. What he could see of his eyes were darting around too fast to be registering anything. It was unsettling to see him so absent, his eyes locking on none of them as they hovered over him. The night was too dark to be able to see his pupils clearly, but he had no doubt they would be just as alarming and he couldn’t bring himself to check with a light just yet. It was unusual for him to not want to know something. The feeling was completely foreign to him but he didn’t have time to analyze it. 

The most immediate concern was a head injury, or gods forbid, a spinal one. It seemed more likely with each second that passed without Noctis moving a muscle. When it became clear that his condition was not improving, Gladio prepared to pick him up, thinking to carry him to the nearest camp. At the last moment, Ignis called for him to stop, placing his arm as a bar in front of the man. Prompto watched with wide eyes as Ignis shook his head, wordlessly insisting he check the prince more thoroughly before moving him. 

Ignis adjusted his glasses before shining a small light on his friend on the ground in front of him. His head was bent at a frightening angle and Ignis wasn’t sure if he wanted to consider the implications. He carefully reached his hand behind Noctis’s head to check for a laceration, and was met with quite a bit of blood already matted in his hair. The wet spot was large and the gentle prodding appeared to rouse Noct slightly but made him no more coherent. Slipping his hand back out carefully, he realized he was so concerned about Noct’s head that he had neglected the rest of him. 

When he examined him for other injuries, he discovered that the wound on his torso was not a pretty sight, but he couldn’t be sure how deep it was. It wasn’t bleeding enough to be concerned about Noct bleeding out right here but not knowing the extent of any internal damage turned his stomach. Continuing down his body, he found a long gash along the outside of his right leg running from midway up his calf to a few inches above his knee. Any of his other scratches could easily be explained by the day and a half they spent in the wild. Ignis couldn’t help feeling a little guilty when he realized he had no idea at what point that laceration on his leg had occurred. It probably wasn’t reasonable to blame himself for it but seeing Noctis hurt rarely brought out his most sensible side. 

Ignis took a deep breath in hopes of calming himself and prayed to all the gods that the others wouldn’t notice how worried he was. Without question, he was the most level-headed of the group and he felt that his responsibility to keep his composure in any situation was second only to serving and protecting Noctis, at which he’d failed miserably tonight. No matter how disturbing Noct’s condition was, he couldn’t fail at his other duties; he had no choice but to hold it together and harshly reminded himself of that fact.

When his eyes went back to Noctis’ face, he saw that he had closed his eyes while Ignis was searching for other injuries. He wasn’t sure if that was a bad sign or only to be expected, but it made his heart sink nonetheless.

Prompto and Gladio waited restlessly for Ignis to finish and deliver a report. Finally, Gladio’s frustration wore out and he snapped, “Can I move him or not? We’re sitting ducks here.”

“Ideally, we wouldn’t. But I suppose it can’t be helped. I propose we position him with his neck straightened out and apply the potion there. It may not be enough but it’s the best we can do with what we have. Do be careful,” he added as a needless afterthought. As if any of them needed to be reminded how delicately this needed to be handled.  

Prompto watched in poorly-hidden horror as his other two friends worked to move Noctis. Ignis cradled Noct’s head while Gladio got hands under his shoulders to shift him, working in tandem to ease him into a flat position as gently as possible. Once he was flat, Ignis did his best to make sure his neck was straightened out and in a natural position. 

A second before he broke the potion, he hesitated. All four of them knew some first aid, it came with the territory. But Ignis was painfully aware that he was no physician and he wasn’t entirely sure of the correct course. An injury to the neck was serious, and his instinct was to use the potion to counteract that possibility, but the slice across Noctis’ abdomen was only marginally less concerning. It may even require stitches and he could only pray there wasn’t any significant internal damage. But he was capable of doing stitches when necessary; there was little he could do to fix a spinal injury, especially once they moved Noct off the ground to carry him to camp. And healing his internal organs would be a small consolation if it turned out an injury to his spine would leave him paralyzed. He saw Noct suffer through that once. After watching him struggle through recovery, he had little doubt that Noct would prefer the ability to walk above anything else, no matter the implications, and he felt compelled to honor that wish. It didn’t make the decision any easier to carry out. 

Ignis’ face twitched minutely as he froze for only a second, but Gladio caught it. It hurt too much to look at Noct, so he had been watching the advisor carefully instead. “Problem?” Gladio asked. 

His uncertainty caught in his throat, cutting off his response. All he could do was shake his head and proceed. Indecision wasn’t going to help anyone, especially Noctis. He broke the potion in the vicinity of Noct’s neck and sat back. They all sat for a moment, as if waiting for a visible response. But it was only a fleeting moment; they all knew this wouldn’t make everything better. Not even close. 

Ignis continued to watch Noct’s face for a moment longer than the others, still squatting next to him after they had stood up and readied themselves to find the nearest haven. He absently ran his fingers through Noct’s hair. If anyone asked he probably would have insisted he was checking for further injury, or perhaps that he was hoping to comfort his unconscious companion. And maybe he was. But he knew he was trying to calm himself as much as anything else. He could hear Prompto and Gladio examining a map behind him and he left them to it to have another, hopefully calming, moment. It didn’t help as much as he hoped. 

“We need to move,” Gladio said softly. 

Ignis could only nod as he stood and let Gladio take his place next to Noct. The control freak in him wished he could be the one to carry Noctis to the haven, but he knew that would be ridiculous. Ignis could likely carry Noct without much problem, but it was such an obvious solution to have the largest among them carry him with ease that he worried how it would appear if he seemed not to trust the others with his care. And if anyone was to do it besides himself, he was glad Gladio would be the one shielding him from the world on the trek to camp. He watched as Gladio gathered him into his arms and was satisfied with the delicacy he displayed. 

It turned out they had been closer to the haven than they had suspected, and they weren’t sure if they were more relieved or annoyed by that fact. 

Upon arrival, without being asked, Prompto quickly unrolled a sleeping bag for Gladio to set Noct down on. None of them wanted to leave his side but they knew he was unlikely to wake, so they ran about setting up camp as fast as they could so they could return to watching over him. 

Practically being brothers, Ignis felt no shame in carefully removing Noct’s pants so he could better address his leg wound. Seeing it in the low light of the campfire made it look worse somehow. The flickering light danced across it, the moving shadows making the edges appear gaping. He dismissed the thought as much as he could and attempted to return his thoughts to the methodical steps of cleaning and bandaging his friend’s leg. 

Next was his head. He checked the back of his head again and discovered the potion they’d used had also healed up part of the head wound. With the blood already dried in his hair it was hard to tell how big the laceration actually was now, but he was certain it was at least a fraction smaller than before and was no longer actively bleeding. 

He found himself wishing yet again that they were not camping under the stars tonight. If they had made it to actual lodgings he would be able to wash some of the blood from Noct’s hair and it got under his skin that there was no chance of that happening tonight. Ideally, Noct would wake up in the morning with them, displaying proof yet again that the gods must be on his side. But failing that, they would get him to a hotel room first thing in the morning, for his comfort as well as their own, and maybe to a hospital after that if necessary. That would have to be enough. 

Finally, he got to the part he had been dreading: stitching Noct’s abdomen. It could have been worse; Noct was terrible about stitches when he was awake. No one  _ likes _ getting stitched up, that was just an undisputed fact of life. But the way Noctis tended to tense up and try so hard not to move would only cause him to shake for a different reason and it made it more painful for both himself and anyone observing. Ignis tried to look on the bright side and be glad that Noct wouldn’t have to suffer this time, but it was only the smallest of comforts.

“Prompto, I need you to hold up a light while I stitch,” Ignis requested as he gathered the supplies. 

All color drained out of Prompto’s face and he stammered, “C-can’t the big guy handle that?”

“Gladio is setting up camp. I assume you’d like a place to sleep tonight?”

For a moment, Prompto looked ready to declare he would sleep on the hard ground outside in the elements for the rest of his life if he didn’t have to watch, but in the end he complied. 

At first, Prompto tried to avoid watching, but after Ignis had to ask him to readjust the light he was holding several times, he was sternly ordered to look so he could keep the light in the right place. He tried to hide his displeasure, telling Noct, ‘the things I do for you, buddy,’ but the way his breath kept catching and how he hissed in commiseration with his friend made it quite obvious. 

Finally, Ignis finished and rose from next to Noct and brushed his hands off, going to start dinner for the others without a word. Without really thinking about it, he began preparing one of Noct’s favorite dishes, pretending that surely he would wake soon and eat another meal prepared by Ignis, like nothing had happened. He knew that was but a desperate, nigh-impossible dream at best, but it was all that kept him moving forward. 

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen that night. Noct slept peacefully through the night, his friends watching over him vigilantly almost until the dawn hours. They weren’t sure if they were more worried about him remaining unconscious or more relieved he hadn’t woken up and informed them he couldn’t move. 

When the sun began to rise, the exhaustion caught up with them once again. Their love for Noctis had helped them through the night and none of them would admit they were able to sleep at a time like this, but they all knew they wouldn’t be able to stay awake indefinitely. They carefully moved Noct into the tent with them and prepared to sleep as well. Falling asleep was no simple task, but with Noct literally surrounded by his loving crownsguard, it was decided there was no better way. There was discussion of taking shifts to watch over him, but stubborn as ever, either they would all sleep or none of them would. Surely they would notice if Noctis awoke.

 

\--

 

Noctis woke up entirely disoriented, but somehow managed to leave the tent without waking his soundly sleeping friends. His brain offered the fuzzy logic that he didn’t want to wake them as they deserved their sleep. He couldn’t even remember making it to camp, which was worrisome, but mostly he felt guilty. He must not have been much help at all, so he should let them rest. He felt like such a burden and he  _ really _ needed to take a leak. The sunlight hit him in the face, stopping him momentarily and making him wince. But nature was calling, so he slowly limped away from the haven, with no idea how close he had come to being unable to walk again.

He didn’t notice how badly his leg hurt until he made it to the trees, but thought nothing of it. Something in the back of his brain itched, making him feel like maybe he  _ should  _ care, but the idea was quickly lost. Absently, he lightly rubbed at something across his torso, but that didn’t worry him much either. He passed one tree after another, walking much farther than he really needed to, but it didn’t register. Nothing did. His mind was disturbingly blank except for that itch. It kept telling him -  _ urging  _ him - to stop and  _ think _ about why he couldn’t think. But that was the thing,  _ he couldn’t think _ . So he didn’t. He just kept walking. And walking. And walking. He stopped to piss but by the time he was done he wasn’t sure which direction he had come from. 

Slumping against a tree, he stopped to figure out what to do. He was sure that Gladio must have taught him something about finding his way in the wilderness, but what? His mind jumped from idea to idea but none of them made any sense. 

If he had been thinking clearly, he might have simply remembered the direction he had come from. But even if he didn’t, he would have remembered any of the numerous survival skills Gladio had taught him before and since they left Insomnia. Noct didn’t claim to be any kind of outdoorsman, but he paid attention when it mattered - and Gladio was always damn clear that survival skills mattered. 

But he wasn’t thinking clearly. He was in just his boxers and a thin shirt and had awful pain in his head, back, stomach and leg that would all majorly slow him down in a fight, but none of that occurred to him. It was a dangerous combination - his brain was scrambled and he had no idea how badly he was impaired. So when it popped into his head to just pick a direction and walk, that’s what he did. 

 

\--

 

Back at camp, Prompto was the first to wake up. His rest hadn’t been especially  _ restful _ , so when he opened his eyes and was met with bright sunlight it was a bit confusing. Why was it suddenly light out? Hadn’t he just closed his eyes? He blinked a few times, wondering why no one had woke him up demanding he get up and eat breakfast or help pack up camp. Why -

Then it hit him like a train. The events from last night, the fight, Noct was hurt - 

Noct was  _ really hurt -  _

_ Noct -  _

With a start, he turned to look for his best friend in the world and his blood ran cold when he saw he wasn’t there.  _ Crap.  _

Prompto had been the one laid out in front of the opening in the tent and he couldn’t help feeling like this was his fault specifically. He had been sure he would notice if Noct woke up and he certainly didn’t expect someone with a bad head injury to be able to sneak past him with any amount of stealth. But leave it to Noct to manage just that. 

Even though no one had said it out loud, Prompto knew that the odds of Noctis being able to walk immediately after the previous night’s injuries were slim. It wasn’t something Noct liked to talk about, but he was aware of most of the details surrounding his childhood accident. He knew about Noct’s difficulties recovering and that there had been doubts as to whether he would ever walk again. It still boggled his mind that his extremely capable best friend had ever been in that situation; watching him today you’d have no idea. So he had some clue of how badly an injury like this could destroy him and life as he knew it. In a way, it was practically a gift from the gods that he was able to walk well enough to get away, but it wasn’t much of a comfort no matter how much he wanted it to be. 

Prompto turned to check on Ignis and Gladio and was surprised to find they seemed to still be sound asleep. He was pretty sure they wouldn’t blame him - well, Gladio might for a bit, but Ignis would probably be more the reasonable one as usual - but he was left putting all his hope into the belief that Noct would be right outside the tent. If he was awake enough to move, maybe he had recovered from his terrifying unresponsive state and everything would be back to normal. If he was doing better they could all forget the tension and borderline horror of his previous condition and move on. Probably slowly, but he would happily take that over the emotional strain of just waiting for Noct to wake up at all.

But those dreams were dashed when Prompto crept out of the tent and didn’t see any sign of Noctis. How could that even be? Noct hadn’t so much as opened his eyes all the way since he had been flung and probably shattered his neck, how could he have managed to sneak past all his friends and completely out of camp?

Prompto was torn. He really didn’t want to be the one to wake his fellow crownsguard and inform them that Noct was missing. Even though Gladio was his friend now and no longer just The Shield To The Prince to him, he was still pretty damn scary when he was mad. Part of him wondered if he could manage to only wake Ignis; he could use someone with a measure of composure in a situation like this. But he shook the thought away, for now this was his problem to solve. For all he knew, Noct could be nearby and he could go rescue his friend and bring him back without alerting anyone. Wouldn’t that be best?

He turned in a circle, surveying the landscape around the haven. It was rocky plains in most directions. He strained his eyes to see as far as he could, but he didn’t see any sign of Noct in those directions. The ground wasn’t entirely flat and he couldn’t rule out that Noct had managed to fall somewhere out of view. But it occurred to him that maybe his likely-concussed friend had needed to relieve himself, and he probably wouldn’t have set off for rocky terrain for that. That left the clump of forest. To his dismay, he realized the forest was narrow near the camp but spanned out in a wide cone shape from there, and he couldn’t see to where the trees ended. The tightly spaced trees had a canopy that seemed relatively dark despite the abundant sunlight everywhere else and he couldn’t see very far into the forest from where he was standing. 

Swearing under his breath, he hoped Noct had been lucid enough to head for trees if he needed to pee rather than being stupid and heading for more rocks to hurt himself on. He swept his eyes across everything he could see across the flatter ground one last time. He still couldn’t see any sign of Noct’s dark hair or black t-shirt so with a sigh he jogged toward the treeline. 

“Noct?” he called out. He made a point of keeping his voice soft enough he wouldn’t wake the others and alert them to his screw up until he had to. “Noct, buddy, it’s Prompto!” he called out a bit louder as he went further into the trees. 

He found himself wishing he had more of Gladio’s tracking skills. He had watched enough TV to know that hunters could pick up on all sorts of tiny details to track their prey, but he had no clue how to actually put it into practice. The thought came to him to look for any sort of trail left behind, maybe footprints, but there were signs of movement all over the place and Prompto didn’t have the skill to tell if any of it was human. He swore again and looked over his shoulder, trying to note the location of the haven before continuing. 

“Noct!” he cried out louder now that he was farther from camp. “Are you there? Noct? It’s me, please tell me you’re here somewhere. I’m really worried!” 

He was too far out of his element. He knew if he wandered any further on his own he may even get lost himself, and he tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach when he realized that meant his friend was almost certainly lost in his current condition. 

With a sigh, he called his friend’s name one more time and held his breath to listen for any kind of response. Eventually he had to breathe again and turn back for camp. There was no time to waste at this point, and he ran full speed back to the haven. 

He hesitated outside the tent for a moment trying not to lose his resolve. Noct could be - let’s be honest, probably  _ was  _ \- in serious danger. Gods knew what he could run into in that forest on a regular day and Prompto felt the panic rising when the parade of other problems that could befall him when he was this hurt went through his head. Finally, he harnessed that panic instead of running from it, and pushed his way into the tent. 

“Guys, wake up,” Prompto said in a hushed voice. He realized his frightened whisper probably wasn’t going to cut it and let the panic rise in his voice as he said louder, “Guys, you need to wake up, Noct is gone.” 

That certainly got their attention. They both shot straight up, heads turning to the empty spot Noct had occupied during the night. Ignis reached for his glasses and slipped them on his face gracefully while Gladio just jumped up and roughly pushed past Prompto out of the tent.

Once they were all outside, Prompto watched as Ignis and Gladio seemed to go through the same process Prompto had, surveying the landscape and making quick calculations in their heads. 

Gladio was the first to pull himself together, pulling on a tank top and rushing to lace up his boots. Ignis, usually fully composed in any event, seemed to be reeling from the possibilities but soon moved to put on his shoes as well. 

At this point, the emotional exhaustion hit Prompto and he stood momentarily frozen, watching his friends rush to prepare to leave camp and wishing he could stay here. Normally before leaving on any average day, he’d make some sort of joke about staying with the camp and how he’ll see everyone when they got back, and part of him wished it was that easy. Of course he was worried about Noct, but his insecurity was flaring up again and he was blaming himself for letting Noct slip away in the first place. He scolded himself for even thinking he could remain behind at a time like this, regardless of how useless he feared he’d be in the search. He began quickly telling them about the small search he had already conducted, rambling in places out of anxiety. 

Gladio was half-listening while calculating how far Noct could have gotten, but it was difficult without knowing for sure when he had managed to escape and just how mobile he was with an injured leg and everything else. As much as he wanted Noct to wake this morning and everything move on just like normal he knew it wasn’t going to be that simple, but he never would have guessed Noct would be able to sneak away unnoticed. He’d been practically comatose and had probably broken his neck, for gods’ sake, how had this even happened? Even if they looked past the spinal and head injuries, the gash on his leg had been bad and was likely aggravating the ever-present effects of his childhood accident. How far could he possibly get? 

He tuned out Prompto while he was nearly incoherently describing a scene from some movie about a hunter stalking its prey by looking for broken branches and trails of blood. The kid tended to ramble when he was nervous and while Gladio would never admit it, his tangents were sometimes worth an internal chuckle. But right now it was more important to plan the search in his head and he continued inventorying the different things that could affect the direction and distance Noct had traveled. 

Ignis was sitting nearby, eyes wandering around the landscape still. He had come to the same conclusion Prompto had, that Noctis had likely needed to relieve himself, and was probably in the trees. Still, he looked around in horror at how rocky the terrain was everywhere, even a bit among the trees, and he worried how badly Noct would hurt himself if he stumbled, which wasn’t hard to do when either concussed or dealing with an injured leg, let alone both. The fact remained that they had no idea what condition he was in now. Obviously he was awake and at least somewhat mobile, which would have made him happier under different circumstances. It was bordering on miraculous that Noctis was even on his feet right now. But he didn’t know how clearly - or unclearly - he was thinking and despite witnessing Noct’s prowess in battle countless times, the image from last night of Noct with a contorted neck and not responding refused to stop haunting him. Would he be capable of defending himself if he had to? Ignis had been so concerned about Noctis’ neck that he had spared little thought for possible concussion, and that idea was hitting him full-force now. 

“Stop!” Gladio finally interjected to Prompto, who had gone on yet another incomprehensible tangent. 

Prompto let out a startled, “Eep!” Gladio’s voice had been harsh but Prompto knew him well enough to recognize the frustration in his voice wasn’t directed at him but at the situation they found themselves in and tried to remain calm.  _ Tried  _ being the key word.

“Okay,” Gladio began vocalizing a plan. “We don’t know which way he went for sure other than he probably headed for the forest,” he started, pointing at the trees for emphasis out of habit. “We can’t really know how far he got on a bad leg and back, but apparently he’s far enough that he couldn’t hear Prompto calling for him.” Internally, his brain less than helpfully spoke the words he couldn’t say aloud: that Noct may actually be unconscious  _ anywhere _ in the woods and that was why he wasn’t responding. He pushed that idea aside for now. “Our best bet is to fan out but be within shouting distance of each other. We’ll cover more ground that way.”

“But you’re the tracking expert!” Prompto burst out, his voice at a ridiculously high octave. “I don’t know what I’m looking for -”

“You don’t know what your best friend looks like?” Gladio cut him off in gruff disbelief and more than a little mockingly. “He’s this tall,” he said, holding a hand to mark Noctis’s approximate height as he began listing off, “dark hair, dark clothes, loves to fish and play video games; the  _ brain-injured _ prince who left his phone, shoes, and  _ pants _ behind -” He was practically growling by the end, his desperation at the situation taking over any composure he had been holding onto. 

“- I’m not  _ that _ stupid,” Prompto cried indignantly. “I thought you were the big hunting and survival expert, Mr. Extreme Outdoors -”

“- enough!” Ignis scolded. “This bickering isn’t helping Noct. Either he’s still wandering about or he’s in there,  _ alone  _ and _ unconscious. _ ” Both his companions wisely shut their mouths and reluctantly declared a truce with their eyes. “Good. If Gladio thinks that the best method is to look separately, I concur. We shouldn’t be wasting daylight.” 

Prompto looked up at the sky and gulped, not even wanting to consider that they may not find Noct before dark. 

With that, the trio set off towards the trees and silently split apart into the woods. They would occasionally call out Noct’s name, but the longer they went unanswered, the less they called out to him, fearing the worst: that for whatever reason he was unable to hear or answer them. 

Prompto still felt more unsure even with each step further into the trees. He kept an eye on Gladio and Ignis from a distance, trying to match pace with them while sweeping his eyes in every direction, but had to keep reminding himself that they were not what he was supposed to be looking for. He stopped suddenly and looked up at the treetops towering above him, eyes widening. Did Noct like climbing trees? Had he ever seen Noct climb a tree? Would Noct even be able to climb in such bad shape? What if he  _ fell  _ from a tree and - 

“Prompto, keep it moving!” Gladio shouted from ahead of him. In his tree-related panic he’d fallen far behind the others and he hustled to catch up and press forward, calling out to his friend and desperately praying he’d eventually hear him answer. None of them were sure what they would find at this point, but the image only became more grim as time passed. 

At some point, Prompto realized he had stepped in something disgusting and groaned to himself loudly. Without even turning from his search, Gladio called out to him simply, “Suck it up, keep looking!”

Prompto responded with a high pitched sound of displeasure and forced himself to continue on, muttering to himself unhappily about his ability to worry about stepping in nasty shit and look for Noct at the same time. 

While Prompto continued bitching about Gladio under his breath, Ignis froze when he noticed a bare footprint in the dirt. He was nearly certain it was human and couldn’t imagine who else would be wandering about barefoot. For a moment he was frustrated that the situation had him so desperate that a single, possibly-human footprint made him so excited, but that was soon overridden with relief that he found  _ anything _ to indicate they were looking in the right place, and he clung to that. He didn’t want to imagine what it would mean for Noctis if they were looking in the wrong place. 

He was ripped from his confusing, unsatisfying flood of relief when Gladio shouted at him, “Seriously? You too, Iggy?”

“I found a footprint,” he called back simply in reply. 

Prompto began to run over, but Gladio shook his head and motioned for him to stay where he was. “That’s good,” he finally acknowledged. “Don’t get distracted, keep looking. He’s gotta be here somewhere.”

 

\--

 

Unsurprisingly, Noct was still too confused to realize he was confused. He felt like he’d been walking such a long time. A  _ looooong _ time. Surely he should have found their camp by now? Wait. That  _ was _ the direction he was walking in, right? Why would he be walking  _ away _ from camp? That would be silly. 

He continued plodding along until something in his peripheral vision caught his eye. Distracted, he changed direction slightly to move closer to it. It was a kind of faint shimmering and he suddenly desperately needed to follow it. 

He would move a few paces forward and it would swiftly change locations, always dancing away in the corner of his eye. He couldn’t imagine what it could be, but nothing seemed more important. 

Thoughts of finding camp gone from his head, he froze, trying to find the source of that light. It was so hard to pinpoint! He couldn’t remember ever feeling more frustrated and he let out a soft whine as he reached out a hand toward his elusive target. If only the pounding pain in his head would stop, maybe then he could catch it. He shook his head, hoping to clear away the pulsing feeling, but that only made it worse and the world seemed to tilt violently. One second he was standing, the next he was on the ground, with no memory of in between.

Noct felt a sudden horrible tearing feeling across his gut. It stopped him for only a moment, he had more important things to worry about. He slowly pushed himself off the ground and took a few steps, allowing his feet to direct him rather than his brain, but then that far off gleam would catch his eye again and it would start all over. 

Step, step. Fall. Get up. Look around. Step, step, step, step. Fall. Get up. Step. Fall. 

His brain was getting jostled with every fall and the pain on his stomach kept getting worse but the thought to maybe stop moving around never crossed his mind. Any time anything began to make sense, he’d quickly lose track of it and his attention would latch onto the first thing it found, erasing everything else. The idea of finding camp was long forgotten, replaced by only stumbling in circles.

Instinct was also forgotten. He wasn’t sure where he was or even who he was anymore but that didn’t seem all that concerning. All that mattered were the small distractions catching his eye, these were all-important, until he inevitably stumbled and fell again and his broken mind picked something else to fixate on. 

Suddenly, his vision seemed to split in two, doubling the number of trees in front of him. He swayed on his feet a little, trying to make sense of the multiplying trees. This was his new obsession; where had they all come from? Had trees always grown that fast? He couldn’t remember. 

He couldn’t remember anything. He dropped to his knees and then onto his side. He stared at the ground directly in front of him, eyes wandering between the rocks and the moss and tree roots until his eyes gradually slid closed. 

 

\--

 

Prompto wasn’t sure how long they had been searching, but it felt like far too long. It was getting well into the late afternoon and it was becoming a desperate necessity to find Noct before darkness fell. At some point all three of them had started shouting his name more frequently again, then almost constantly. 

After what felt like an eternity of scanning the forest inch by inch, Ignis called out Noct’s name in a completely different tone and everyone knew it was what they’d been hoping for. 

Ignis rushed to kneel in front of Noct, grabbing him by the shoulder. Gladio and Prompto reached them just as Ignis was shaking his shoulder and turning Noct from his side onto his back. They watched from a few steps back, waiting for him to move. 

“He’s….he’s so still. He is breathing, right? Please tell me he’s breathing?” Prompto asked with a shake in his voice he didn’t care to hide. They all hovered around him waiting on the answer. 

Ignis moved his hand from Noct’s shoulder to the pulse point on his neck. He could have cried when he felt something moving there. It wasn’t as strong as he’d like, but it was miles better than the alternative. With a grimace, he realized the front of Noct’s shirt was damp and he felt the pain in his own stomach as it became clear to him that he had ripped his stitches.

With the obvious out of the way he moved on to checking other things, and he was even less pleased with what he found this time. Noct’s head was even more beat up than before. He had new cuts on his face and a sizable gash on his temple and blood running down his cheek and neck. When Ignis checked the wound on his leg that he had previously bandaged, he saw most of the bandage had fallen away and the slice looked much bigger than before, with all kinds of dirt and forest life pressed into the cut. When he checked it he was dismayed to find it was extremely warm to the touch. He laid his hand on Noct’s forehead and it was hot as well. “He has an infection,” he murmured to the others. “He has been out all day. It is likely rather serious at this point.”

He stood and turned his back to Noct to address the others. 

Honestly, at this point Prompto had zoned out on the details, he was so happy to have found Noct that it was actually paralyzing. Gladio and Ignis were discussing logistics of getting their injured friend to a proper shelter, but Prompto was afraid to take his eyes off him for a moment, so he just stood and stared. It was such a relief to see him again but at the same time he could barely believe his eyes. Prompto didn’t have any kind of medical knowledge beyond the most basic of first aid, so the best way he could describe him was _ ‘wrecked’. _ It was clear even to him that he wasn’t only injured now but also very ill. But no matter his condition, he was  _ walking,  _ he was  _ here _ , they found him, and that had to count for something after the mess that was the last few days. 

So that was why he was the only one who noticed that Noct was no longer out cold.

At first, this seemed like a dream. That had to be a good sign, right? It had to be. Prompto was elated. “Guys!” he exclaimed. “Look! Noct’s up!”

It felt less like a dream when Noct started to sit up with a look of horror on his face. At first it could have seemed like he was just in pain - which was doubtlessly true - but it quickly became obvious that Noct was terrified. He pushed himself up on his hands and crab-walked backwards away from them. 

“Noct!” Gladio called out loudly, reaching a hand out to him and stepping to move to his side. Noct’s eyes widened and he attempted to get away faster, scrambling to his feet and backing away slowly, almost tripping on multiple roots before he just froze in place. 

“Noct, buddy, it’s us,” Prompto said, hurt clear in his tone. 

Ignis held out a hand to Prompto and softly said, “He’s delirious. Take care not to spook him.” 

Prompto took the scene in, Noct backing away fearfully, Ignis holding out one hand to stop Gladio from moving forward and the other to placate Noct. Prompto realized that he recognized Ignis’ stance; it was how you’re supposed to approach a frightened animal, and that made his heart squeeze painfully for his friend. 

Noct’s eyes darted around between them before settling on Gladio, but Gladio didn’t seem to react to the fear in his gaze. “Gladio,” Ignis whispered. “I think he’s frightened. Of you.”

“Try being less huge or something,” Prompto suggested in a whisper back. 

Gladio’s shoulders slumped in exasperation as he slowly turned to Prompto in utter disbelief and replied sarcastically, “Real helpful, Prom. Thanks for that. I’ll get right on it.”

None of them were sure how to proceed. As annoyed as Gladio was by Prompto’s suggestion, he was afraid to move a muscle. Ignis seemed to be trying to think of a plan. Prompto, as usual, wasn’t sure what he could possibly do to help. He settled on gently whispering, “You’re safe, Noct. Nobody’s gonna hurt you.”

For a second, Noct’s eyes closed and his head bowed and it looked as if he was relaxing. It lulled the others into a sort of calm, but then Noct quickly raised his hand and summoned a sword, throwing it off to the side and warping himself to it. 

They all took a big step forward, instinctively trying to follow after him. That was a mistake.

Noct spooked and threw the sword again, warping further away from them. They were all careful not to react this time, but it didn’t seem to have any effect and Noct warped two more times in quick succession trying to get away. Once he was satisfied with the distance he’d put between them, Noct resumed backing away before turning and attempting to run. 

That went about as well as could be expected. He soon tripped and mid-fall threw his sword up into the trees and warped up there, hanging from a low altitude for a second before dropping down to the ground. The drop was only a couple feet, but he landed badly on his injured leg and cried out in pain. He tested the leg and just barely avoided collapsing. His friends took the opportunity to advance and close the distance, all attempts at subtlety forgotten.

In Noct’s mind, he was an animal being chased and his very survival depended on escaping. All his reactions were instinct and adrenaline, but that adrenaline was waning. He could see his pursuers getting closer and closer and he panicked. He tried to take a step back but only succeeded in falling on his ass. He tried scrambling away again just as Prompto moved in to grab him and he did the only thing he had left to do; he drew from the crystal and phased, letting Prompto’s hand pass through his arm. 

Despite having seen Noct do exactly that so many times in battle, he was still surprised when he came away empty handed. That moment of confusion was all Noct needed, and he tried to get away again. 

Gladio got close to sneaking up and closing his arms around Noct’s torso, but he phased again and then warped once he was out of reach, leaving Gladio with nothing but air in his grasp. 

Ignis wasn’t slow by any means, but he was beginning to realize that chasing Noct was only scaring him and getting them no closer to bringing him home. Tackling him was not an option considering his fragile state from all the injuries. So instead of dashing to capture Noct, he took a single slow step and tried yet again to talk to him softly, hoping that eventually he would come to his senses. Or at least calm him long enough to think of a more thorough plan. “Noctis,” Ignis said gently but clearly. “Do you recognize me? I am not going to hurt you. We are your friends. We wish to help you. Please.”

Noct’s eyes still looked wild, but his eyelids were starting to droop. Exhaustion was closing in and his options were fewer with every second. He still didn’t recognize his friends, but something about Ignis’s tone had made him pause. There was that itch in his brain again, trying to tell him something. He was close to surrendering - so close - when suddenly, Prompto was beside him, reaching a hand out to him and hovering it just over his arm. Noct turned to look at his hand and then at him, looking more confused than scared as Prompto held eye contact with him all the while.

Noct blinked rapidly a few times before twitching slightly and fainting on the spot. As he was falling, his body continued to glow blue and he began to phase despite being unconscious. Prompto desperately snatched at his arm, trying to save him from hitting the ground yet again, but all he could do was swipe through the image of his friend. Just in time, Noct returned to normal and Ignis lunged to catch him before he could hurt himself again. 

Ignis pulled Noct into his arms carefully, savoring the relief he felt at finding him. His brain reminded him that he was still gravely injured and by no means out of the metaphorical woods, but for once in his life he told his brain to just shut up and held Noct closer.  

Prompto fell to his knees in relief and crawled forward the short distance to Ignis and Noct. Before he could stop himself, his hand was reaching out, desperate to touch him. It ran once through his hair before he panicked that he was hurting Noct more, then moved to absently running his hand up and down his arm where the skin looked unharmed. Entranced, he just watched Noct in a daze, running his hand along his arm absently for who knew how long. 

Farther away, Gladio was frozen in place, still slightly afraid to approach. In his mind he told himself he understood. He knew he was a big man and if Noct wasn’t in his right mind he supposed he could understand the fear. But it still  _ hurt _ no matter how he tried to make it go away. The image of Noct backing away from him fearfully wasn’t going to leave him any time soon. He may have had a rocky relationship with Noctis when they were younger, but he was so important to him in so many ways now. The tough guy in him would probably insist it was duty above all, but Noct was more than a brother to him, his life revolved around protecting the kid and he’d gladly sacrifice it for him. And to see unadulterated fear in the eyes of the one person in the world he’s supposed to protect above all else at the sight of  _ him _ was hard to swallow. It made his chest hurt in a way he couldn’t explain. 

Ignis seemed to snap out of the trance he was in and noticed Gladio’s distance and subtly waved him closer. He could practically feel the hesitancy radiating off the Shield and gave him a look that was equal parts compassion and admonishment. “It’s approaching dusk. We need to start moving back to camp immediately.” Prompto’s head whipped up as he seemed to take in his surroundings for the first time and his face darkened as he noticed the light coming through the trees diminishing. He pushed himself away from Noct and stood up shakily.

Once again, Ignis was left handing over Noctis into the arms of his shield. He didn’t like it any more this time than the last but he swallowed that down and led the way. 

It was just getting dark enough for the threat of daemons as they reached camp, and Prompto let out an exaggerated sigh of relief as he plopped down into one of the chairs by the left over fire. 

Gladio reluctantly set Noct down in the same spot as the night before. “He’s got chills,” he informed Ignis grimly. It goes against every instinct not to cover up someone shivering and he watched as Ignis draped the thinnest of their blankets over him until the chills passed. He wanted to go back to holding him but he knew from having Noct pressed up against him that he’s already far warmer than he should be. 

With a sigh, Ignis gathered up the necessary items to patch up Noctis yet again and sat beside him to begin. The head wounds were gruesome looking, as head wounds often are, but he was more concerned with Noct’s leg. Pushing the blanket out away from the injured limb, he began by lightly brushing off what debris he could before washing more carefully. The amount of grime was staggering and he found himself wondering how on Eos Noct had managed to get it so dirty in so short a time. It would be nearly impressive, if it wasn’t also potentially deadly. 

Noct let out a sharp whine and tried to twitch his leg away as Ignis began putting disinfectant on the gouge. The sound was grating on his heart but overall a good sign that he was somewhat aware of what was happening. He moved to put a hand on Noct’s forehead and whispered, “Apologies. It needs to be done, I’m afraid. You’re safe, highness. We’ll take care of you.” Noct whimpered again as Ignis continued cleaning the leg but he did relax a bit, to Ignis’ relief. 

Finally satisfied with the condition of the leg, Ignis finished bandaging it and looked around. Gladio was sitting nearby but Prompto was nowhere to be seen. He looked around curiously, sure he must be around somewhere. It was already hard to believe he’d left Noct’s side at all; to abandon Noct in any circumstance was unlike him. 

Gladio noticed Ignis’ confusion and told him, “Kid wandered off. I think he’s afraid of watching stitching again.” He said it with a smirk but his heart wasn’t in it. 

Picking up a small washcloth, Ignis began cleaning off his prince’s face. He winced as he realized that the injury to his temple was worse than he’d thought initially. Much of it was covered by hair and it only got worse as he pushed more hair out of the way. The dirt washed away fairly easily but he was having trouble removing the blood from his skin. He was hesitant to scrub the sensitive skin of Noct’s cheek, but he couldn’t bear looking at the blood stains any longer so he did his best to find a middle ground. 

Prompto reappeared shortly after Ignis examined Noct’s torso and fixed the few stitches that had been pulled loose. Ignis gave him his most unamused look to which Prompto had the sense to blush and mumbled out an apology for his disappearing act. 

“So what do we do now?” Prompto finally asked after several minutes of semi-awkward silence. 

“If it were earlier in the day I’d say we should get him to a hospital for medical attention,” Ignis responded but trailed off at the end. “I believe it would be in Noct’s best interest to see a proper doctor as soon as possible. But the roads are far too dangerous at night to travel cavalierly, especially when we’re down a man.”

“So you’re saying we should wait until morning to hit the road?” Gladio asked to clarify. Ignis nodded, looking more defeated than he’d ever seen him. 

“Is that safe?” Prompto asked quietly. When no one answered him he asked even quieter, “Will he be okay?” He finally broke his eyes away from Noct to look at the others, only to find that they were watching Noct intently as well. 

“It will have to be enough,” Ignis eventually answered as evenly as he could. 

They all sat watching as Noct began to toss and turn in his sleep. He restlessly turned to one side for a minute and then turned around to face them on his other side. His face was pulled in pain even in sleep. Eventually his expression evened out a bit and his sleep seemed to calm down, so they turned away, facing back to each other. 

“How the hell did he even get out of that tent?” Gladio finally asked in disbelief. “He broke his neck last night. Unbelievable.”

_ Here it comes _ , thought Prompto. He could feel his cheeks heating up and he hung his head in shame. It was all his fault Noct was sick now. If only he’d woken and kept him from wandering away. He wouldn’t have gotten an infection, they wouldn’t have had to chase his delirious ass through the forest, and Noct could have been safely recovering instead of sweating out a fever until it was safe to take him to a hospital. It was going to be the longest night of his life, watching his best friend to make sure he was still breathing and hadn’t somehow gotten lost again and warped himself off a cliff. 

Prompto was about to apologize and beg for forgiveness when Gladio chuckled softly and asked Ignis, “Remember when he was really sick in the hospital wing of the citadel when we were little kids?”

“Astrals, how could I forget?” Ignis responded with a small, fond smile. 

“Still don’t know how he managed that.”

“I doubt we ever will.”

Prompto looked between Gladio and Ignis in confusion. Were they  _ reminiscing _ right now instead of blaming him for this mess? What was happening? Where was the anger and the scolding he was expecting? This wasn’t right at all, why didn’t they hate him? “What are you guys talking about?” 

Gladio snorted. “I’m surprised princess never told you about it. He used to be pretty proud of it.”

_ That _ didn’t answer his question at all, so he turned to Ignis, who sighed and recalled, “When Noctis was about six, he had a horrendous fever and was in the hospital ward of the citadel for over a week. No one could ascertain the cause, so he was kept in the ward to manage his symptoms as the fever fluctuated.” He paused before adding, “He was somewhat delirious and kept babbling about how he needed to see the sky but we of course couldn’t let him go.”

_ So this wasn’t the first time Noct has been like this?  _ Prompto thought. But he could tell he was still missing part of the story, so he looked back to Gladio questioningly. 

Gladio continued, “He tried sneaking out a few times but never got very far. Mostly he’d just fall all over the place and maybe puke and someone would wrestle him back into bed and he’d go back to sleep. But one night, he managed to sneak past at least five guards and even more doctors and disappeared. Citadel was on red alert looking for the kid. He couldn’t even walk in a straight line and he managed to slip past all those guards, plus me and Iggy.”

Prompto’s jaw dropped. “So he’s part ninja or something?” he exclaimed. 

Simultaneously, Ignis answered, “No, actually-,” while Gladio snorted and said, “Apparently.”

“I wouldn’t call him a  _ ninja, _ ” Ignis corrected. 

“Give it up, Ig. He slipped back into the still-guarded hospital room while we were all out looking for him. Said something about ghosts or some shit. If he’s not a ninja he’s a godsdamned magician.”

“He was feverous and delusional,” Ignis argued. 

“That just makes it more impressive!” Gladio shot back. 

While they bickered over what to call Noctis’ escape from that hospital room, Prompto muttered to himself, “I thought it was my fault.” He laughed softly to himself for a moment until the laughter turned to relieved tears. After a minute, when he realized Ignis and Gladio were looking at him strangely, he repeated shakily through his tears, “I thought this was all my fault. Noct getting out of the tent and wandering off and getting sick. I thought it was my fault.”

“Heavens, no,” Ignis told him, somewhat alarmed at Prompto’s breakdown. “Why would it be your fault?”

Now that he had more context about Noct sneaking off, his insecurity felt a bit silly, but he was having difficulty letting the always familiar self-loathing go. “I was in front of the door of the tent. I thought it was my fault he got away because I didn’t wake up. But now you’re telling me I had no clue my best friend was a ninja and apparently sneaking away when he’s beyond sick is just Tuesday for the bastard.”

“Pretty much,” Gladio confirmed for him brightly, clapping him on the shoulder. 

“Son of a bitch,” Prompto muttered quietly. “So I guess we’re taking shifts to watch him tonight then, huh?”

 

\--

 

Once Noct had recovered and they were back on the road, Prompto finally asked his friend, “So I heard about your escape from the hospital as a kid.”

Noctis started, half asleep in the back of the car. He took a moment to realize what Prompto was referencing, yawned and answered, “Yeah?”

“I wanna know your secret.”

_ Ah,  _ Noct thought. He just shut his eyes again and murmured, “Ghosts. It was totally ghosts,” as he fell back asleep with a smirk on his face. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed. Kudos and comments mean the world to me and I'd really love to hear any thoughts. Since it's my first fic for the fandom I'm feeling especially shaky about posting this so it all means that much extra. <3


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